One of the most critical components on any race car is the fuel system. From the cell to the pump to the lines, your choice of products can impact your performance on track. With that in mind, we’ll go through the fuel system on Circle Track’s latest pavement project car point by point starting with the cell. We’ll get to plumbing the whole system and the pump itself at a later date.

This car has been designed to run some of the most pretigious Super Late Model races in the country, such as the Snowball Derby, the Winchester 400 and so on. Those races are long which means it’s critical that we design our fuel system to carry as much gas as possible. An extra lap can mean the difference between winning and loosing.

2/19Having the right fuel cell in your car along with correctly mounting it can prevent disaster when things go wrong on the racetrack.

We’re going to race primarily under CRA’s Super Late Model rules, which state that the cell must have a maximum capacity of 22 gallons, be equipped with at least two (2) protective straps completely around it and be mounted securely behind the rear axle of the car. In addition, the car must have a minimum 1/8-inch steel or aluminum plate, between the fuel cell and rear end, which we actually modified for our own purposes, as you’ll see in the following pages. A standard rubber type cell in a steel container with ball valve type fuel shut off placed at the point the fuel exits the cell and a safety bar behind the cell is the standard. We settled on an ATL cell because of their quality and ease of installation. ATL ships their cells to you complete and ready to drop into the car. Billy Hess built the chassis and designed all of the brackets necessary to accommodate our chosen cell. Check it out.

3/191 The Billy Hess built chassis of our pavement Super Late Model comes complete with all of the mounting brackets for our 22-gallon ATL fuel cell. In this picture you can see the 1 inch square tubing that cradles the cell along with the flat stock straps that go across the top.

4/192 CRA rules mandate a minimum 1/8-inch steel or aluminum plate between fuel cell and rear end. It’s an added safety feature, but we took it a step further and extended it above the cell by 6 inches and then used a sheetmetal brake to make a 90-degree bend in the metal. We use the same bolts that hold the 1-inch square tubing to fasten the plate to the backside of it. The tubing is threaded to make bolting up the cell quick and easy.

5/193 Here’s another view of the plate in place. We used Grade 8 bolts to hold both the metal plate and the flat bar in place. In this shot you can also see the rear end behind the plate.

6/194 Like many pavement Supers, the fuel cell in this car gets slid in from the bottom. It’s a nice snug fit from front to back; side to side and top to bottom.

7/195 From underneath you can see how the metal plate extends just below the 1-inch square tubing.

8/196 Once we mocked everything up in the car, we pulled the metal plate back out to attach the rearend cooler and fuel filter. Extending and bending the metal plate gives us a neat and convenient place to mount both of these critical items.

9/197 Here’s something that you may not see every day on a Super Late Model. That’s a track bar we high-jacked from one of our ARCA cars…it should give us just a little grip, center out.

10/198 The fuel filter sits in front of the rear end cooler. Both utilize Jiffy-Tite fittings and are mounted using counter sunk bolts threaded through the bracket. These fittings make it very easy to clean and check your fuel filter. Jiffy Tite’s unique design features a quick disconnect that doesn’t leak when you uncouple it. So it adds a level of safety, because it is impossible to have a fuel spill when you’re changing or cleaning your fuel filter. By setting the rear end cooler up in the same fashion as the fuel filter we can also change gears or the whole rear without losing any oil.

11/199 Pay particular attention to how we mounted the fuel filter. As you can see it sits at an angle, that’s by design. Since this car is going to be running longer races we want to give ourselves every opportunity to get all the fuel to the engine toward the end of a run. By angling the filter not only can we use gravity’s help to get those last drops of gas to the carb, but it should translate into about an extra half of a lap.

12/1910 In this shot the black Jiffy-Tite fitting is disconnected from the filler plate. These fittings are lighter and more compact than other designs on the market and are made from 6061-T6 Aluminum with brass valves and stainless steel ball bearings.

13/1911 OK this isn’t our car, but an older Pro Cup car that was sitting in Circle Track’s warehouse. Pay particular attention to where the overflow tube is routed. You can also see the more traditional AN fittings on this car.

14/1912 Now check out how we routed our overflow tube. We’ve used significantly more tubing, running the overflow across the entire back of the trunk. This allows us completely fill the fuel cell every time. Remember this car is designed to run long races like the Snowball Derby and the Winchester 400, that means we need to get every drop of fuel into the car, and then some. The extra length of overflow tubing should give us another extra half lap.

15/1913 Here’s the finished product…almost. We still have to attach the hose clamps to the main filler tube but other than that they cell is ready for fuel.

Reusing a Cell? Inspect It!

We used a brand-new ATL fuel cell in our project car, but if you are looking at reusing a cell or even the steel container there are a number of things you need to consider before just dumping gas in and going racing. First and foremost, the whole cell, rubber bladder, foam, and filler neck needs to be thoroughly inspected. Pay particular attention to the foam. Over time it can degrade and get sucked up into the fuel lines.

At the end of every season, the fuel cell in any race car should be drained, cleaned and dried out. It needs to be stored in a cool, dry place to maximize its life expectancy. In the case that did not happen, check for any residual fuel left in the cell. Not only is this bad for the cell, but any gummed up fuel can also cause havoc in your carburetor or engine.

19/19Speaking of bad fuel, this is something you should never see in the bottom of your bladder once you pull the foam out. Clearly this fuel has been sitting for an extended period of time and really needs to trashed, along with the rest of this old fuel system.